In perhaps the most famous Swedish film of all, a medieval knight, despite living in a time of pestilence, filth and stark black-and-white hopelessness, is so eager to live he cleverly challenges Death to a game of chess in order to survive.

In the new Swedish movie “A Man Called Ove,” the title character lives in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, drives a Saab, and has lived a generally fulfilling life. His attitude toward death? How about “Where do I sign up?”

No, “A Man Called Ove” is no “Seventh Seal” (obviously), but it does tackle the issue of unrelenting hopelessness in that uniquely Swedish way that became known to the world in Ingmar Bergman’s time.

One can understand the position of Ove (Rolf Lassgard), however. At 59, he is still mourning his wife, who died two years previously. And he has just been laid off from the railroad company for which he has worked for 43 years, replaced by automation.

As Hannes Holm’s appealing but relatively slight and predictable film opens, Ove is trying to commit suicide. Then those pesky new neighbors — a young couple, with the wife a pregnant Iranian woman — come into his life. It is the first of many distractions that keep him from his task.

Soon, this bitter loner — think Archie Bunker and Scrooge rolled into one — is immersed in personal contact and activity. Quite against his will, he teaches the pregnant woman how to drive, revisits a neighborhood feud with his former best friend and his friend’s wife, and takes in both a rescue cat and a teenage neighbor who has been kicked out when he tries to come out as gay to his father.

Ove also revisits his life with his wife through a series of tender flashbacks as “A Man Called Ove” unfolds in a genial, quirky tone. Though our put-upon hero’s gradual realization that he has much to live for is obvious from the get-go, it still is a pleasant journey from pawn to king — spiritually speaking, of course.

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